“TICA” = Homelessness to thousands of families, and thousands of people – TICA is the largest tenancy database in Aus. with 300 000 names and over 3 million records (Stats 2010), defames/blacklists people - with no court order necessary - and prevents them from obtaining accommodation. It is the single leading cause creating homelessness in Australia…

Petition our government to hold a Royal Commission into the businesses practices of TICA and Real estates!

TICA is owned by Philip and Marina Nounnis who have made tens and millions of dollars, since 1992, from the grief being caused to thousands… The grief that can be lethal - even ‘just’ the threat of homelessness, can be lethal… People die because of homelessness (R.I.P. Shel) and people kill because of homelessness (R.I.P Rachael).

The United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25: “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing and housing…”. Not so, according to Mr Philip Nounnis… “tenants do not deserve the right to impose their habits on innocent landlords by claiming that housing is a human right….” (ABC interview 2010).

Mr Nounnis also boasted of a “New product called virtual manager, which allows landlords and agents to see when a tenant applies for another property”. This database is not about managing a property one has already leased out. This is about TICA taking information from application forms and automatically notifying past Real estates. It’s a “virtual stalker”. Does this constitute the criminal act of ‘stalking’? As one of the media articles on his TICA website titled “stalking Tenants” suggests?

In legal procedures and affidavits, Mr Nounnis swears this database is a “searches database”. But an exhibit of this database shows “more info” and “Delete” options – options that are not part of a “searches” database. Does Mr Philip Nounnis deposing only of a “searches” database, and omitting any mention of his “virtual manager” in court proceedings and affidavit - constitute perjury?

TICA is storing personal information on its databases which we do not allow our Govt. to keep, let alone sell to whoever is willing to pay…

TICA is an unregulated business, as are Real estates in general. Accommodation is the ONLY unregulated industry of services and products that are essential for human life. Despite Real Estates always receiving the highest number of consumer complaints - have you ever heard of an RE agent having his/her license revoked? Or suffering any penalty whatsoever from our courts? Any fines? Any Anything? And remember, Politicians and the Judiciary are not tenants of their own homes, but the Landlords of other peoples’…Is it in their best interests to assert Tenants Rights?

A campaign to educate our Judiciary on the leading cause of homelessness in Aus. is not too great a request… We can be sure of the ignorance and apathy of those in their taxpayer-funded ivory towers when they make such comments, as the QCAT Adjudicator expressed his belief that a person cannot be prevented from leaving a property unless “someone handcuffs you to the property”, or a District Court Judge suggesting that the homelessness caused by defamation on the TICA website can be resolved through “public housing”, or the Supreme Court Judge advising the resolution of homelessness: “You normally don’t get that through a Court, you get that through renting a property”, and “Courts don’t normally order people to provide accommodation to other people”.

The bias and stereotyping of Tenants are entrenched… And it begins with accepting disputes between Tenants and Landlords should be resolved in small claims courts, as they are currently, where REs are usually making claims for a few hundred dollars. A Tenant’s claim may be a matter of life and death. A tenant’s allegations may be of criminality including Fraud (leasing a property which is/becomes inhabitable or with non-functioning attributes), Trespassing (No entry notice or false entry notices), Extortion (making demands for monies not owed with threats, example - blacklisting on TICA to prevent one from obtaining accommodation if money not paid), to serious invasions of Privacy and more….

We need a government body to examine complaints made against TICA and Real estates…Dividing these complaints between small claims courts, consumer, corruption or privacy commissions and others, not only is more expensive than one central body but also ‘waters down’ the mass of claims (and the mass is massive!!!). A govt. body with a govt. maintained register (similar to TICA but in reverse, sounds like Justice, Yes?). When too many complaints or serious or criminal complaints are received about TICA or a Real estate. The Govt. needs to investigate and prosecute, and start by cancelling business licenses. They have no right to deal with members of the public… PUNISHING ONE REAL ESTATE IS A WARNING TO ALL REAL ESTATES.

Legislation making TICA inform people of entries which have been made in their name, and only charging the cost it takes to do such, not the $5.45 per minute current cost of the phone line, being the ONLY way a non-member can contact them. Or charging $55 for every year included in an email when one requests the history on the website… Making a profit from a person by selling them the personal information being stored about themselves, it is as wrong as it sounds….

We need to petition the government to make legislation that protects Tenants. Legislation that prevents a Real estate from making any Blacklisting on the TICA website whilst matters are before a court/tribunal (an accepted practice in our legal process already, except in tenancy disputes), legislation that prevents RE’s from blacklisting when a tenant is still in their property...